High pitched whine coming from new flashlight

[mikekoz]

I just purchased a light and when turned on, makes a high pitched whining noise. The noise will change a bit when changing brightness modes, and will go away when I put the light in turbo. It is a small light made by Kodiak that I got from Walmart. Should I be concerned about this and get it exchanged? It was only $20.00, but I would hate for it to fail due to a defect a day after my return window comes and goes!

 

[thermal guy]

It's called induction noise. many lights have this To some degree usually when the light is at a certain output.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

If it's not frying your brain while using it, either live with it, or ditch it for something that doesn't fry your brain.

I hear some noise from some of my lights, but it's faint, usually when I'm listening to my radio.

Chris

 

[defloyd77]

I see no reason no to exchange it honestly.

 

[Dave_H]

Whining sound coming from a light indicates either something not good in the design, or something not working properly. How loud is it? Perhaps somebody knows if this is "normal" for this light; which model is it? As for return that would be your call.

Dave

 

[scalpel_ninja]

Pulse width modulation (PWM) is how many LEDs are powered for different brightness levels. The driver sends voltage in a square wave to turn the LED on and off at such a high frequency where the flashes are not perceptible to the human eye (usually). The change in wave frequency can cause different pitch in the whine from the light at different brightness levels. It might go away at full power.

 

[vicv]

Loosen your grip on the poor thing

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

I had an experience somewhat like this. I believe it was with my 3 cell Surefire Fury Tactical. It seemed like the tailcap was whining when turned on. What was that all about??

 

[letschat7]

My Streamlight Sidewinder does this and some other lights. Don't worry about it.

 

[alpg88]

i do not think it is a defect, this is how its electronic works, you return this one, and get the same one instead, more likely than not it will be making same noise, I had many lights and drivers that whine. however none of them broke yet. some headlamps that had such noisy drivers, I had replaced drivers in those, cuz it is annoying when a headlamp is doing it, but flashlights do not bother me with this noise, it is not audible when it is not next to my ear, unlike a headlamp.

 

[Got Lumens?]

I think it all boils down to the frequency that is used in the pulsed wave modification, and it's particular
grade of components, which can have an included variance of 10-20% from the factory that makes them.
The noise comes from the electronic pulsing within the driver's components. It is a normal
effect from lights that do not have ultra high PWM. The rate of PWM dictate's the components that
are used within the driver. Mostly the lower cost components needed for low frequency level PWM
usually are one's to cause this effect. The noise can come from a $20 light or a $400 light. It invariably
comes down to the chosen components used within driver's make up. All drivers work on paper, and
usually perform well as designed. It is up the lights owner to decide if it is bothersome enough to return
or exchange the light. I have in the past had two identical lights, where one made a lot of noise, while the
other was barely noticeable. Specified higher tolerances of components usually do not make the
annoying whine noise that sometimes is present using cost effective lower/wider tolerance components.
GL

 

[3_gun]

My now vintage Surefire L1 has done this since I opened the box & put batteries in it 15 years ago